Page 35 of Best Supporting Actor
Bea nodded. “As the playwright, I just want to explain a few things up front about the play and the characters. I think it’s important that we start off with a shared understanding of the key points.”
This didn’t sound to Jay much like the way Henry worked and, sure enough, when Jay glanced at him, he was frowning slightly. So was Tag.
“Okay,” Henry said slowly. “Can we pause here for a second, Bea? I’m absolutely with you on getting your thoughts out there. In fact, I’m keen to get everything on the table, just not in a way that shuts down anyone else’s thoughts, you know?”
Bea looked startled. “I’m not shutting down anything—I just think it’ll be beneficial for the company to hear firsthand from the playwright what the intent and themes of the play are. If anything, it should save time. There’s no point wandering down false paths when I’m right here to lead the way.”
Henry sat back in his chair, seeming to consider her words. Then he said, quite gently, “Bea, I can guarantee you this: everyone around the table wants to honour the intent and themes of the play. What I’m saying is that, in my experience, it’s a good idea, before the playwright states their view”—he paused, waving his hands in search of the right words—“too decisively, to listen to the actors’ thoughts on the characters.” He gestured at Jay, then at Tag. “These young men have studied their craft foryears. They’ve learned how to build a character from scratch. And they’ve spent the last few weeks poring over your script—just look at how crumpled those pages are and all the notes on them.” Bea’s glance darted to the script in front of Tag which, sure enough, was as dog-eared as Jay’s copy. Henry smiled encouragingly. “My advice is to listen to what their take is before you start setting down limits. You’ll find the whole always exceeds the sum of its parts.”
Bea’s colour had been rising throughout Henry’s kindly lecture. “Of course I’ll listen to them. I never suggested I wouldn’t. All I was saying was that it might be useful to—” She was interrupted by the door flying open.
“I’msosorry,” said the attractive young man hurrying into the rehearsal room. “Bloody alarm didn’t go off.”
Dark-haired, well spoken, and inoffensively handsome, he looked somewhat familiar to Jay. Maybe he’d met him at one of his mother’s parties? Or maybe he just looked like half the people he’d studied with at RADA.
“Rafe!” Bea beamed and hurried over to greet him. “You made it.”
Rafe gave her a careless one-armed hug. “Only just,” he said, with a laugh. “Had a bit of a sesh last night. You should have come!”
Without even meaning to, Jay’s gaze found Tag’s, and an unexpected flash ofOh Godpassed between them. Jay had to struggle to master a smile as he rose politely to his feet. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tag hesitate and then do the same.
“Everyone,” Bea said, turning to face them. “This is Rafe Fitzroy. He’ll be understudying for both Sassoon and Owen.” She threw a look at Jay and gave a little, embarrassed laugh. “Just in case!”
Jay wasn’t offended. In fact, he’d insisted that his contract include a requirement for the company to provide a suitable understudy for his role, even though Bea had already confirmed Rafe was on board. God knew they might need him. Standing, he offered his hand to shake. “Rafe. I’m Jay Warren. Good to meet you.”
“You too.Hugefan,” Rafe replied, shaking firmly. “I know your sister, actually. Portia? She shared a flat with my ex-girlfriend at uni.”
“Ah,” Jay said. “Well, the theatre’s a small world.”
“Tag O’Rourke,” Tag said then, also holding out his hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Rafe.”
Rafe gave him a blank look as they shook, followed by an equally bland smile. “So sorry, have we met? I’m terrible with names and faces.”
Colour rose in Tag’s face, his shoulders stiffening as he bristled. “A couple of times, yeah.” Then a sharp smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “At the auditions.”
As if Rafe would have forgotten that, Jay thought.
“Rafe and I were at boarding school together,” Bea jumped in quickly. “Sotalented. He’s just finished a year in New York, haven’t you? Studying at Julliard.”
“God, Bea.” Rafe rolled his eyes but was transparently pleased. “Nobody wants to hear aboutthat.”
Jay exchanged another glance with Tag, who still looked irked by Rafe’s rudeness. Jay couldn’t blame Tag, but now at least he understood what was going on. Rafe had been up for the role of Owen, had lost out to Tag, and despite his polish couldn’t quite mask his jealousy. Well, jealousy was par for the course in this business. Rafe would have to get over it, and Tag would have to deal with it.
On the other side of the table, Henry rose and gave Jay a quick smile. “Everyone, take a seat,” he said. “Rafe, nice of you to join us at last.”
Rafe’s handsome face fell. “Sorry, Henry, late night yesterday.” He gave a charming, rueful smile. “And I’m not really a morning person.”
“Well, you are now,” Henry said briskly. “Take a seat.”
As Rafe did so, claiming the chair next to Bea’s, Henry turned to the rest of them. “For those of you who don’t know me, my name’s Henry Walker. I’m the director…”
Henry talked briefly about his approach to rehearsals, explaining how he liked to run each stage of the process. Since the rest of them knew Henry to one degree or another, and knew how he worked, Jay suspected this was mostly for Tag’s benefit, which was typical of Henry. Unlike Rafe, or Jay himself, Tag obviously hadn’t grown up in the theatre, and from his eager interest in what Henry was saying, this was probably all relatively new to him.
Jay found himself oddly envious of Tag’s innocence, of his excitement still unsullied by experience. As far as the theatre was concerned, Jay had been jaded by the age of five.
“...and we all need to give of our best for this production to succeed,” Henry was concluding. “So I’m sure we’ll see you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow morning, Rafe. Yes?”
Henry sounded jovial enough, but there was steel behind his smile; he’d never had patience for dilettantes.